


The Legend of Korra AUs

by Introverted_Chaos



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ancient Rome, Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, Ancient Rome, F/F, Gladiatrix Korra, Jedi Korra, Reader poll, Roman Spain, Runaway AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-22
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-06-30 20:54:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15759489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Introverted_Chaos/pseuds/Introverted_Chaos
Summary: Since I had three ideas for my next Legend of Korra fan fiction, I went ahead and put to a vote on which of three AUs to explore next. In the name of fairness, I'm posting the first chapter of each story for readers to vote on. (Chapters posted here may not necessarily be final drafts.)First idea: a canon-divergent Runaway AU. Sort of a 'what-if?' AU where Tenzin sends Korra back to the South Pole at the end of the first episode. Choosing not to be cooped up in in the White Lotus compound again, Korra runs away.Second idea: Ancient Rome AU. Story takes place in Roman Spain before and during the Civil War between Caesar and Pompey. Korra is a gladiatrix who catches the eye of Asami, a wealthy merchant-princess.Third idea: Star Wars Jedi AU. Features Tenzin as a Jedi Master who escaped Palpatine's Order 66 with the youngling Korra and later married and raised Force-sensitive children.





	1. Runaway AU

**Author's Note:**

> First idea: a canon-divergent Runaway AU. Sort of a 'what-if?' AU where Tenzin sends Korra back to the South Pole at the end of the first episode. Choosing not to be cooped up in in the White Lotus compound again, Korra runs away. After meeting Suyin and her family on Kyoshi Island, she travels to Zaofu to learn metalbending. Lots of Spirit World stuff when Aiwei becomes Korra's spiritual leader, eventually introducing her to Zaheer. Story will probably have Korra/Opal focus instead of Korra/Asami. (Kopal is my second-favorite LoK ship.) Will probably include Republic City characters, but I'm still deciding how and to what extent.

“ _Ugh_ , what was my idiot brother thinking, sending Korra away like that?” Kya groused to her mother, tossing her hands in the air dramatically as they waited on the docks with Tonraq. “I don’t care how ‘dangerous’ Tenzin thinks Republic City is, Korra could do a lot of good there.” Up the docks, a dozen workmen secured the White Lotus ship to the pier.

“And keeping her cooped up in the White Lotus compound certainly won’t help her become a better Avatar,” Tonraq agreed as the Lotus ship lowered its ramp.

“I’m sure Tenzin had his reasons,” Katara shrugged. “I’m sure they were wrong reasons,” she added, “but no doubt they made perfect sense to his mind.”

Kya chuckled at her mother’s sass as Naga bounded down the ramp. Tongue dangling out and barking excitedly, she charged up to their group. Naga butted her head against Kya and licked the side of her face, then turned to lick Tonraq’s face five or six times.

Shaking her head, Kya bent a splash of water from her bottle to wash the polar bear dog slobber from her face. Tonraq, meanwhile, returned Naga’s affection with some aggressive ear-scratching. Casting the slobber over the dockside, Kya looked up at the ship, frowning as she noticed a distinct lack of Avatar. Four White Lotus agents gathered at the base of the ramp conferring in panicked tones.

“Where’s Korra?” Katara asked loudly, marching up to the agents.

“We, ah, don’t know,” one of the agents admitted. “She–she wasn’t in her cabin when we checked just now, to let her know we’d arrived,” the woman continued. “We’re still checking the rest of the ship.”

“Are you saying you _lost_ my daughter?” Tonraq asked as he approached, his face and tone darkening as he crossed his arms.

All four Lotus agents seemed to shrink back as he said it.

“When was the last time any of you saw Korra?” Katara asked. Kya could tell from her mother’s tone that she suspected they hadn’t seen her in a while.

“She… locked herself in her cabin the minute she got aboard,” one of the agents explained. “We’re asking around, but as best we can tell, no one’s seen her or talked to her since.”

“So she could be anywhere in the Earth Kingdom by now,” Tonraq scowled deeper.

“Can’t be!” one of the Lotus members protested. “We’ve left her something to eat every mealtime, and we’ve found her plates empty when we’ve picked them back up. Even her breakfast plate this morning was empty. _Someone’s_ been eating that food.”

“Where’s Naga been this whole time?” Tonraq asked.

“Um… guarding Korra’s door,” the first guard admitted, grimacing as she realized where this line of questioning was headed.

“And has anyone been bringing additional food for Naga?” Kya asked, shaking her head.

“No,” the woman sighed, looking defeated.

“So Korra could be anywhere in the Earth Kingdom by now,” Tonraq repeated.

“Or the Fire Nation,” Kya added. “Any Earth Kingdom port will have west-bound ships she might stow away on.”

“You four, while the others are searching the ship for clues, I want you to start contacting other White Lotus agents and tell them to keep an eye out for Korra,” Katara ordered. “If you find her quickly they might let you keep your jobs. You two,” she said, turning to Tonraq and Kya, “come with me, we’ll work on getting a search organized.”

“Yes, Master Katara,” one of the agents spoke up. “We’ll find her.”

Kya followed her mom and Tonraq down the docks, trying to keep from smirking. Naga loped along beside Tonraq, completely unconcerned about anything.

“That’s my girl,” Tonraq chuckled, dropping his angry act once they were out of the White Lotus’ hearing.

“Korra is nothing if not resourceful,” Katara agreed. “Even so, we should conduct a search of our own, if only to make sure she’s alright. I doubt Korra escaped to either Water Tribe, for example,” she continued, turning to Tonraq. “But you might start inquiring with some of your contacts in both tribes, just to be safe.”

“And to make the White Lotus think we’re actively looking for her,” Tonraq agreed. “Personally, I think this kind of freedom will be good for Korra.”

“So do I,” Kya nodded.

“I think I’ll check with the Fire Nation,” Katara said, considering. “If Korra is seeking to learn more about bending, it’s not unlikely she’d look for someone to teach her lightning bending. Plus,” she added, smiling nostalgically, “I haven’t seen Zuko in almost thirteen years and Izumi in even longer. It will be good to socialize again.”

“Should we be concerned about Zaheer’s people?” Tonraq asked suddenly, perhaps remembering what had happened last time they saw Zuko.

“You’re right,” Kya grimaced, her stomach tightening. “What if Korra _didn’t_ run away? What if Zaheer’s people…?”

The four of them stopped as Katara scowled, considering. “I’m inclined to think Naga would have warned everyone if Korra was in trouble,” she decided finally.

Naga barked happily at the sound of her name.

“No, you’re right,” Tonraq agreed, sighing with relief as he scratched Naga’s ears reassuringly. “Naga would have taken the cabin door off if she sensed someone else in that room with Korra. I think we’re safe in that regard. And having the Lotus question Zaheer and the others about it might tip them off that the Avatar is on the loose.”

“So should I ask around the Earth Kingdom, then?” Kya asked as they continued back across the docks.

“Yes, dear,” Katara nodded, patting Kya’s shoulder. “Korra grew up with stories of Aang’s adventures, so you’d be best off to prioritize places where we went at the end of the Hundred-Year War. Kyoshi Island might be a good place to start, in fact.”

“That actually makes a lot of sense,” Tonraq laughed. “If Korra wants to fight, I can easily imagine her trying to train as a Kyoshi Warrior.”

“So long as I don’t have to track her into the swamp I’m fine with hunting around,” Kya frowned, sticking her tongue out at the thought. “For people who live on the water, swamp benders sure bathe infrequently.”

“Take Naga with you, Kya,” Tonraq suggested, patting Naga’s enormous shoulder. “I think you’ve got the best odds of finding Korra, and I’m sure they’d both love you forever if you reunited them.”

“Sure,” Kya shrugged. “What’d ya say, girl?” she asked, scratching Naga’s muzzle with both hands. “C’mon, we’ll have a girls’ road trip, just the two of us! Ready to find Korra? Let’s go find Korra!”

Naga replied by barking excitedly and snarfing Kya’s face again.

“I can’t believe you didn’t see that coming,” Tonraq smirked unsympathetically. Kya just scowled and bent more water to clean her face off.

* * *

* * *

“Acting experience?” Korra frowned at the young woman in the green robe and padded armor. “Why would I need acting to join the Kyoshi Warriors?”

The Kyoshi Warrior nodded, smiling knowingly but not unkindly. “Yeah, that’s what I figured,” she said. “I hate to tell you this, sweetie, but the Kyoshi Warriors—the official ones—are part of the United Forces now. They’re a special ops group that requires years of training and experience just to try out for. Us here on the island are just reenactors.”

“Reenactors?” Korra frowned even deeper.

“Kyoshi Island is a tourist destination now, hon,” the warrior explained, leaning against a souvenir kiosk. “With the relative peace after the Hundred-Year War, the Warriors’ duties became mostly ceremonial. And since then lots of people flock to places visited by Avatar Aang. So we put on reenactments for the tourists, answer questions, sign autographs, visit schools, and even give chi-blocking lessons. We’re trained in the Warriors’ traditional techniques, sure, but none of us have any actual fighting experience.” She seemed to notice Korra’s disappointment. “But I take it that’s not what you’re interested in?”

“I… no, no it’s not,” Korra sighed. Sneaking out of her cabin, stealing Earth Kingdom clothes from the White Lotus, swimming to shore, hiking two days down the western coast, and bumming a ferry ride to Kyoshi Island—all of that effort felt wasted now.

“Don’t feel too badly,” the warrior smiled, patting her shoulder. “You’re not the first. Seems like every few months we get some strong, scrappy, well-intentioned young woman who shows up, all fired up to join the Kyoshi Warriors and fight bandits and protect people. And we have to disappoint them by telling them that’s not a thing anymore. Sorry, hon.”

“No, that’s fine… I–I understand,” Korra sighed again, looking down. “I just… I kind of ran away to get here, so, you know, now what do I do?”

“You can still stick around and try out,” the warrior offered. “We’re having auditions in three days; it’ll give you time to think on it, and we’ll even put you up until then. Like I said, you’ll get to learn traditional fighting techniques, but you’ll still have to perform and sign autographs and stuff. It’s all part of the gig.”

“I… yeah, alright, I’ll think about it,” Korra agreed. It wasn’t what she was after, but maybe it wouldn’t be all bad.

“Sure,” the warrior girl shrugged. “Tell you what—Jin, was it?—I’ll get you a voucher for a room and meals and swimsuit rentals. Go get you a room, ride the elephant koi, play some volleyball, or just relax in the shade for a while. Tonight get yourself a nice big supper and a good night’s sleep. Come find me in the morning and let me know what you’ve decided. Deal?”

“Deal,” Korra smiled. She cocked her head and studied the Kyoshi Warrior for a moment. “Were _you_ one of those ‘strong, scrappy young women’ who came here wanting to fight bandits and help people?” Korra had to know.

“No, but my girlfriend was,” the warrior said, winking.

Korra just grinned back.

* * *

* * *

A shady grove of trees looked inviting after a couple hours of swimming and riding elephant koi. Korra sighed as she flopped down in the sand beneath the palms. She still hadn’t decided what to do next, but she was feeling less disappointed about her circumstances. The elephant koi ride had been exhilarating, ranking up there with penguin sledding and riding Naga, fun-wise. She decided she’d definitely have to come back here someday, circumstances permitting. She wondered what her parents or Naga would think of this place.

Edging her back up against a tree, Korra munched on an apple, letting the warm breeze dry her skin. The view of the beach and the bay was nice, with a few dozen vacationers relaxing in the sun, swimming, riding elephant koi, or playing volleyball or frisbee. It was a pleasant diversion, but she knew she needed to decide where to go from here.

Taking that Kyoshi Warrior’s offer and sticking around to try out for the Warriors seemed like Korra’s most plausible option, but was it what she really wanted? Sure, she could learn traditional fighting moves, but signing autographs and giving talks and performing for an audience didn’t sound like stuff she wanted to do, even if just for a few months.

The Fire Nation presented the interesting possibility of learning lightning bending, something none of her fire bending teachers had ever really touched on. But if she was trying to stay in disguise, she’d be far more recognizable as an outsider there than in the Earth Kingdom—recognizable as an outsider and potentially recognizable as the Avatar.

So far Korra had managed fairly well traveling in the Earth Kingdom, but she couldn’t think of what it might have to offer in terms of learning to become a better Avatar. The sand benders and swamp benders might have some stylistic differences to offer in terms of bending, she supposed. But who wanted to live in some bug-infested swamp or sand-blasted desert?

Pro-bending was another possibility, she realized. Republic City might be where the latest and greatest in pro-bending was happening, but the Water, Fire, and Earth Nations each had their own professional, amateur, and underground competitive bending circuits. Any of those might be good places to learn modern fighting techniques, Korra reflected. She smiled, imagining herself wandering each nation, seeking out and learning from master benders, like Aang had.

Korra glanced over, noticing a teenage girl approaching, completely engrossed in whatever book she was reading. The girl wore a green sundress with a straw sunhat, sunglasses, and leather sandals. She was pretty and slender with cute, short dark hair. Just a few feet away, the girl looked up and flinched suddenly, looking startled.

“I’m so, so sorry,” she apologized. “I was looking for a shady spot to read and didn’t even see you there!”

“It’s alright,” Korra laughed. “There’s a lot of shade to go around, so I don’t mind sharing.”

“Oh, okay, thanks,” the girl said awkwardly. She glanced around for a moment, as if uncertain whether to sit closer or farther away or what. She finally decided to compromise by sitting right where she was. The girl looked at Korra, then at her book, apparently uncertain if she was supposed to make conversation or if it was okay to go back to reading.

“This is my first time on Kyoshi Island. Is the weather normally this nice?” Korra asked, hoping to cut through the awkwardness.

“Usually, I guess,” the girl replied. “I come here with my mom and younger brothers almost every year,” she admitted. “My dad and both of my older brothers always seem to have their own projects going and don’t seem to have time to come out to the island anymore. Though, Huan doesn’t seem to enjoy the sunshine much anyway.”

Coming from the South Pole where weather was usually overcast, the idea of disliking the sun was difficult for Korra to contemplate.

“The sun and water are fun for a while,” the girl continued, “but for the most part, I just like to find shady places to read and listen to the waves.”

“I’ll admit I don’t read much,” Korra said, tucking one knee against her chest and watching the surf. “I mean, I learned _how_ to read and everything, but I could never stand all of that sitting-still stuff that reading requires.”

“Yeah, I think my younger brothers are like that, too,” the girl admitted, laughing a little and seeming to warm up to Korra. “They’d rather show off and practice their metalbending sports than sit and read.”

“Your brothers are metalbenders?” Korra asked, glancing over and feeling her eyes widen. “That’s so cool!”

“I guess so,” the girl said, as if she didn’t find metalbending all that interesting. “It’s pretty common in my family. I’m not a bender, but my mom, three of my brothers, Grandma Toph, and Aunt Lin are all metalbenders.”

“Toph? As in Toph _Beifong_?” Korra hadn’t realized her eyes could get any wider. “ _You’re_ Toph’s granddaughter?”

“Yeah, though I was pretty little last time we were together,” she admitted. “I’m Opal, by the way. Opal Beifong… but you probably already guessed that last part.” Opal blushed a bit.

“I’m Jin,” Korra replied, giving the name she’d given to that Kyoshi Warrior earlier. She was pretty sure she remembered it being a common Earth Kingdom name. “Opal, huh? That’s a really pretty name.”

“Thanks,” Opal smiled and blushed a little deeper. “Um, Jin’s a really nice name, too.”

“So, um, do… do you think your mom or your brothers or someone might be able to teach _me_ about metalbending?” Korra asked, not wanting to sound too eager but realizing she’d probably achieved awkward instead. “It looks so impressive, but I’ve never had the chance to learn it.”

“Oh! I didn’t realize you were an earthbender,” Opal apologized. “You looked more like you’re Water Tribe.”

“I, ah, I get that a lot,” Korra pretended to brush it off. “I came here from Republic City, in fact,” _technically true_ , “people are pretty mixed there: earthbenders who look like they’re from the Water Tribes, waterbenders who look like they’re from the Fire Nation. It’s kind of a—whatchacallit?—melting pot.”

“Oh, yeah, that makes sense,” Opal said, thinking it over. “Um, listen, Jin, I guess if you want, we can go talk to my mom—about metalbending, I mean. I don’t know if she’ll say ‘yes,’ but there’s no better place in the world to learn metalbending than Zaofu.”

“Really?” Korra gushed. “Yes! That would be so amazing!” She sat upright, debating if it was appropriate to rush over and give Opal a hug.

* * *

* * *

Suyin frowned in surprise to see Opal approaching with another girl. As lovely as her daughter was, Opal was bookish and introverted and rarely seemed to make friends on her own. Not that these were negative qualities, but Su would have liked for her daughter to socialize more often.

Su wasn’t sure what her daughter looked for in friends, but this new girl didn’t look it. Stocky and athletic with a Water-Tribe look to her, Opal’s new friend looked more the type to join a pro-bending team than to sit and talk about books and literature.

“Who’s your friend, Opal?” Su greeted her daughter.

“Mom, this is Jin,” Opal introduced, gesturing to the muscular young woman. “We got to talking about metalbending, and Jin said she’s always wanted to learn how. So I told her we could talk to you about coming back to Zaofu with us so she can learn and train with you or one of the other trainers.

“Jin, this is my mom, Suyin.”

“Please, call me Su,” she smiled, offering Jin her hand.

“Thanks,” Jin smiled back, looking relieved as they shook hands. “You’re, uh, a lot friendlier than Chief Beifong.”

Su laughed. “Yes, I doubt she’s softened much since last we talked,” she agreed. “You’re from Republic City then? How do you know Lin?”

“Uh, yeah, I came here from Republic City,” Jin admitted. “I met Chief Beifong briefly, but given that I’d just caused a bunch of property damage stopping some crooks may have soured her toward me.” She scratched the back of her head and grinned sheepishly.

“Well that’s a little hypocritical of her,” Su commented. “I’ve seen Lin cause _plenty_ of property damage while stopping crooks.”

“Heh, yeah, I’ll bet she has,” Jin laughed in return. “She was all sore at me for ‘doling out vigilante justice,’ though I guess I also kind of resisted arrest… But I was just trying to help, ya know?”

“So instead of, say, offering you a job and helping you direct that well-intentioned energy of yours in a constructive direction, Lin tries to lock you up like a common criminal,” Su concluded.

“Yeah, it’s lucky I had a friend in high places who could bail me out of that,” Jin agreed. “Though he’s kind of frosty at me about it right now, so it’s just as well that I ran away.”

“You ran away to go on vacation half-way across the world?” Su asked, raising a brow.

“No, I actually ran away to join the Kyoshi Warriors. I wanted to learn to fight crime and help people, but…” she trailed off.

“But that’s not technically a thing anymore?” Su speculated, smiling sympathetically. “I can see Lin really missed out not giving you a second chance. Thankfully, I’m a firm believer in second chances,” she assured Jin.

“So how about this, my young friend,” Su offered. “All of my guards and soldiers in Zaofu train as metalbenders. If you come back to Zaofu and sign on as one of my city guards, I’ll make sure you get proper mentoring and some of my best trainers to work with. You’ll have to serve on the guard in exchange, but I promise you’ll get to live up to your greatest potential. Deal?”

“Deal,” Jin agreed, grinning and offering Su her hand on it. “Thank you so much! I promise I’ll make the most of this opportunity.”

“And I’m sure you will,” Su smiled back, shaking her hand.

“Oh, I should track down that Kyoshi Warrior I talked to earlier and let her know I got another offer,” Jin said suddenly. “Thanks for letting me talk to your mom,” she added, turning to hug Opal. “I’ll be back in a bit!”

With that Jin jogged off in the direction of the souvenir kiosks.

“She seems nice,” Su commented to Opal.

“Yeah, I think I kind of like her,” Opal admitted.

“Well, I think she kind of likes you too,” Su offered. Jin and Opal were close to the same age, after all, and it was rare for Opal to open up to _anyone_ , let alone open up so quickly. Maybe a kind-natured, extroverted tomboy was exactly what her daughter needed in a friend.

Or potentially even girlfriend, Su reflected, watching Opal watch in the direction Jin had gone.

Su didn’t need Aiwei’s truth-seeing to infer that Jin wasn’t being entirely honest. But that was fine. A former runaway herself, Su could relate entirely. Leaving home all those years ago had been exactly what she’d needed to find herself and realize what she really wanted in life.

Maybe it could do the same for Jin.


	2. Ancient Roman AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Second idea: Ancient Rome AU. Story takes place in Roman Spain before and during the Civil War between Caesar and Pompey. Korra is a gladiatrix who catches the eye of Asami, a wealthy merchant-princess. Mako and Bolin are legionaries in Pompey's armies. Will feature some minor character deaths, and will probably be rated Explicit for some fairly graphic Ancient-world violence and sexuality.
> 
> I'm working to make this story as historically accurate as I'm capable of. While I'm a long-time enthusiast of Ancient History, I'm not an expert by any means. I'm happy to take constructive criticism on the historical accuracy, but I must insist that anyone who offers it provide sources as well. Thanks in advance!

To the screams and cheers of the Tarraco mob, Korra strode into the arena, bronze buckler in her left hand, spear in her right. The spear was over a foot taller than she was, with a bronze head at its tip and a bronze spike at the butt. A dagger and gladius hung from her right hip. Smeared in dirt and olive-oil to protect from Iberia’s summer sun, Korra posed dramatically for the crowd wearing her usual bronze armor: a Greek-styled t-visor helmet, right-arm manica, left-shoulder pauldron to protect her neck, leather harness around her waist, and left-leg greave. Beyond that, she wore soldier’s sandals, girding about her loins, and linen wraps around her breasts—more to keep them out of the way than any pretense at modesty.

Though she’d rather keep her hair shorter, the crowd preferred she wear a long, tangled mane like some Gaul warrior or something. Thus it dangled out the back of her helmet for an enemy to grab onto in a fight. She knew it was stupid, but her job was to please the spectators.

A crowd favorite from Councilman Tarrlok’s _ludus_ , this was Korra’s eighth fight since her training started a year and a half ago. It was repayment for her debts, she’d been told. Originally purchased by some infantry brothel for the legionaries, Korra had killed two of Tarrlok’s gladiators her former owner rented to ‘break’ her. Tarrlok took her as part of his repayment for the loss of his gladiators. Apparently he figured if she could kill two trained fighters with her bare hands in a brothel stall, she could learn to kill them with weapons in the arena.

In the arena Korra was called the “Thracian Amazon,” apparently based on some Greek legend or something, despite that she wasn’t Greek and only vaguely knew where Thrace was. Though stocky, she’d always been strong. But the endless days of weapons training had made her stronger and broad-shouldered, with muscular arms, legs, and torso.

As she awaited her opponent’s arrival, Korra reflected that this fate was far better than that brothel. The brothel meant being pounded by an endless stream of Iberian, Latin, or Gallic infantrymen until she died from childbirth or something venereal. In the _ludus_ , she spent her days training with spears and swords and her nights banging slave girls or the occasional adventuresome noblewoman. All she had to do in return was fight five or six times a year. And if she survived long enough to earn her freedom, she had decent job prospects as a gladiator trainer, enforcer for a debt-collector, or bodyguard for some patrician or wealthy pleb.

Today, however, Korra was called upon to carry out an execution, rather than a regular fight. Some thug who called himself “Shady Shins” or “Shady Shoes” or something similarly stupid had been sentenced to death in the arena, and Korra was selected to carry out the sentence. All she had to do was make it entertaining for the crowd.

The crowd continued to roar as the gates opened at the far end of the arena. The six-hundred or so spectators looked to be mostly native Iberian, though the legionaries and auxiliaries—on leave from the legion encampment at Ilerda—might instead be from Italia, Gaul, Africa, or even Greece. There was also a bunch of mercenary archers from someplace called “Knossos” who were apparently big fans of the arena and came to the fights regularly. Korra couldn’t see into the shaded area where the nobles sat, but she knew Asami was there, watching and cheering her on. While the nobles all got shaded seating, the soldiers and commoners had to sweat it out in the heat.

This didn’t seem to deter their enthusiasm for the kill.

“Get your greasy hands off me,” Shady-whatever protested as the guards shoved him into the arena. A lanky, rather foppish-looking Gaul, the condemned had a short, sandy, Roman haircut and a short beard that had probably stayed neatly trimmed prior to his incarceration. He made a show of dusting off his tunic before drawing his gladius.

“Now this…? This is just insulting,” Shady snorted as he and Korra advanced on each other. “I’m supposed to go out in some kind of blaze of glory in the arena, and they make me fight some freaking broad? I guess that’s provincial entertainment for ya.”

Korra continued forward, wary and scowling at his flippant behavior. While some arena fighters adopted a wisecracking posture as part of their on-stage persona, those condemned were usually less… collected in the face of an advancing gladiatrix.

So what did Shady here know that Korra didn’t?

“S’matter, Muscles?” the lanky fop mocked again. “No outrage? Not even a snarky reply? I’ll bet it just tears you up inside, having to snuff out a face this pretty, am I right?” His eyes darted about the arena for a second, as if watching for some hidden sign or signal.

Korra found herself tempted to throw her spear the last fifteen feet and finish him then and there. Something about Shady’s posture and expression told her that delay would work to her disadvantage.

“You’re expecting help!” Korra accused suddenly, dropping into a fighting stance and scanning the stands.

“Ah, I was gonna save that for the surprise, but since you figured it out…” Shady snickered. He raised his left hand to his mouth and let out a sharp whistle.

Korra grimaced as eight thugs leapt in from around the arena, drawing daggers and rushing to surround her.

* * *

* * *

“Check it out, Bro, it’s Shady Shin!” Bolin pointed out as the guards shoved the prisoner into the arena. “Remember him from Capua, with the _Triplex Minas_ triad?”

Mako squinted and leaned forward to look, adjusting his baldric to keep his gladius from digging into his side. “Huh,” he muttered as he recognized the lanky thug. “I wonder what he’s doing out here in the provinces.”

“He probably traveled out here to escape the law, and it didn’t work,” Bolin chuckled. “Mako and I knew that guy when we were growing up,” he pointed out to Hasook, one of the Balearic mercenaries from Afranius’s legions. The brothers sat amid a cluster of other legionaries and auxiliaries from Pompey’s legions stationed in nearby Ilerda.

“Well, he’s in a lot of trouble, then,” Mako said, sounding satisfied.

“Yeah,” Bolin laughed his agreement. “The Thracian Amazon hasn’t lost a fight yet. Hey, remember that one fight where she was taking on two guys at once, and she had to beat that Punic guy to death with her shield because her spear broke and her dagger got stuck in the other guy’s ribcage?”

“Oh, yeah,” Mako recalled. “I think she started carrying a gladius as well, after that.”

Bolin couldn’t hear what was being said over the cheering, but it looked like Shin was doing a lot of posturing as he faced the Thracian Amazon. The thought puzzled Bolin—Shin tended to cow away from any fight where he didn’t have either the obvious upper hand or some secret advantage against his opponent.

Before he could say anything to Mako, they heard a sharp whistle from the arena. As they watched, eight guys with daggers leapt from the stands to encircle the gladiatrix.

“Whoa-ho! These fights get better every year,” Bolin laughed. “They totally pitched this as just another execution fight. But _this_? This is some quality suspense-building.”

“Uh, I don’t think this is part of the show, Bo,” Mako pointed out. “Isn’t that Peng?” he asked, pointing to a familiar short, scrawny guy in a red tunic.

“Oh no,” Bolin murmured. “And that’s Viper over there,” he added, pointing out the _Triplex Minas_ ’ gang leader.

Mako looked as grim as the thugs closed in on the outnumbered gladiatrix. The crowd continued to cheer, as if assuming this was all part of the show.

“Should we… do something?” Bolin asked, scratching the back of his neck. “I mean, it’s not our fight, but you and I both know what those guys can do, and she’s kinda all by herself out there…”

“And the arena guards don’t seem to be doing anything more than covering the exits,” Mako added. “But like you said, it’s not our fight. Plus, we’re already in trouble for that stunt with those Gaul cavalry warriors.”

“Oh, yeah, good times,” Bolin said, remembering.

* * *

* * *

Screeching one of her people’s battle cries, Korra charged one of her attackers in effort to get outside their circle. With no back protection, she definitely didn’t want them surrounding her. She made a leaping lunge at her target, thrusting her spear as a deterrent. Though startled by her move, the red-shirted thug easily dodged her hastily aimed attack.

She whirled around as she landed, backing toward the whitewashed arena walls. Too high to jump and too steep to climb, they didn’t afford much of an escape—and she didn’t really expect the spectators to pull her to safety.

Deciding she needed versatility and peripheral vision for this fight, Korra cast aside her buckler and helm. Taking her spear in both hands, she backed up a few more paces as the thugs closed in.

The nearest two thugs rushed in at once. Korra thrust her spear at one to make him flinch back. Dodging a blow from the attacker in the red tunic, she swung the spiked end up to catch him under the arm. She smiled as one of his ribs gave way from the hit. As the bastard stumbled back, Korra stepped in to stab him in the chest with the spike. The man clutched his bleeding chest, backing out of range.

Korra backed closer to the wall to stay out of their semicircle a little better. The crowd certainly hadn’t quieted any, apparently not realizing this wasn’t part of the show. Though, given that the guards hadn’t come to her aid, clearly the arena’s staff planned to play this off as part of the spectacle to try to save face if nothing else.

Which meant Korra was on her own.

“Get ‘er,” the boss thug ordered. Three henchmen surged forward, daggers ready while the others stayed back and fanned out to keep her from escaping.

Spinning, Korra stabbed to her left with her spear, catching one attacker in the shoulder. As she completed her spin, she kicked the center attacker in the gut and raised her right arm to block the right attacker’s stab with her manica. Spinning her spear like a stave, she slashed the head across the center attacker’s throat. Attacking to her right this time, she stuffed the spear’s bronze spike between two ribs on her right-most attacker. Wrenching it out, she turned and finished off the wounded attacker on her left. The crowd cheered at the sight of the pain and bloodshed.

Three of their number dead or dying, the remaining thugs backed off in surprise at Korra’s sudden onslaught. Red-tunic stayed back and continued to clutch his bleeding chest. Korra made a show of stretching her neck, first to the left, then right, much to the delight of the crowd and the annoyance of her attackers. If she was going to die, she might as well make her killers look foolish in the process.

Without further theatrics, Korra gave another cry and charged the enemy center, aiming straight for their boss. Though he managed to evade her initial lunge, Korra whipped the butt of her spear around to stab the back of his left leg as she spun by. Out the other side of the attackers, she noticed blood from a slash to her left bicep.

Behind her, Korra heard red-tunic maneuvering to take a stab at her back. She let him get within spear-length before spinning to her left to stab him through the chest again. Wrenching the spear from his wound, she spun back around—

—only to see all five of her remaining opponents charge upon her. She thrust a hasty stab at Shady, but the smug jackass dodged slightly and gripped her spear with his left hand. Though Korra let go in time to keep from being pulled off balance, his counter-stab still cut her to a rib. She stumbled back, managing to get her manica up to deflect a stab from one of the other thugs. Not letting up, Shady stabbed again. Though Korra managed to catch his wrist, his gladius still broke skin, cutting her left arm again. Before she could draw her own gladius, Shady stepped in to stab her with her own spear, cutting deep though she rolled with the attack.  

The blow made Korra stumble back again, letting go of Shady’s arm. Off balance, she tripped backward over red-tunic’s body, clutching her bleeding chest. She hit the dirt, not quite hard enough to knock the wind out of her. Rolling to her feet entirely by reflex, Korra staggered back as the remaining thugs closed in. Shady seemed to snicker at Korra’s hunched posture and the blood running over her arms as she clutched her injuries. He’d opened his mouth to say something when another voice interrupted.

“I guess some things never change, do they, Shady Shin?” the new voice mocked. Korra and her attackers all looked as a pair of young men in legionary tunics strode across the arena, gladiuses drawn. “Just like back home, eh, Mako?”

“Yep,” the other agreed. “I mean, have the _Triplex Minas_ ever attacked someone who wasn’t either outnumbered or unarmed?”

“Bolin, Mako, is that you?” Shady Smug-face asked, facing them. “Kinda figures you two’d join Pompey’s mules out here in the provinces. What’re they payin’ you two mooks ta—?”

He cut off with a scream as Korra drew her gladius and slashed the bastard across the back in one motion. Pivoting, she stepped around him to slice his right arm off above the elbow.

Buggering the theatrics that had gotten her sliced up in the first place and using the distraction to her advantage, Korra cut into the remaining thugs without hesitation or mercy. Still covering her wounds with her left arm, Korra slashed the leader across his chest, then stabbed her gladius through his stomach and into his heart. Wrenching the blade from his wound, she slashed another attacker through the neck, taking his head most of the way off.

The crowd screamed and cheered as she dodged a counter-stab from one of her two remaining attackers. Stepping in, she stabbed him in the throat. The thug made hideous gargling noises as he fell. Korra parried her last attacker’s final stab by lopping his hand off at the wrist. Her backswing sliced his bowels open, dropping him screaming to the dirt beside his comrades.

“Thanks for the distraction,” was all she said to the two dumbfounded legionaries. Both just stared, but she noticed a momentary smile at the edge of the shorter one’s mouth.

Korra stepped over to where Shady lay on the ground, blubbering and clutching his bloody stump. Bending over, she gripped him by the hair and yanked him to his knees before the crowd. Placing her gladius against his throat, she looked up at the crowd to decide his fate.

“No, gods damn it! _No_!” Shady begged as the shrieking mob unanimously voted to end him.

He gargled one last time as Korra cut his throat, letting his body collapse to the dirt beside his friends and their failed rescue attempt. She nodded briefly to the two legionaries as she limped toward the gates.

The world began to blur around her as the adrenaline wore off and the pain and blood-loss began to affect her. She stumbled a couple times as she trudged back across the arena, one step at a time. Korra wasn’t sure when her gladius slipped from her hand, but she only passingly noticed she wasn’t still holding it.

The gate guards stepped back respectfully as she stumbled from the Spanish sun into the darkness behind the arena. Her trainer Tenzin and one of the medical staff managed to catch her as her body gave out. She felt Tenzin lift her in his arms as the last of her consciousness ebbed away.

* * *

* * *

“How much hell do you think we’ll catch for jumping into the arena?” Bolin asked as they filed through the vomitorium and into the colonnaded fornices behind the arena, shading their eyes against the evening sunset.

“Lots,” Mako agreed. “As in there may be a flogging from Varo instore when we get back. And we don’t know if we even _saved_ the Thracian Amazon—she looked _really_ bad when they took her backstage.”

“Excuse me, are you the two legionaries who jumped into the arena to help Korra?” a woman’s voice asked to their right.

They turned to see a tall, strikingly elegant noblewoman with green eyes and gorgeous, wavy hair. Based on her accent, Mako guessed her to be either Illyrian or northern Greek. She wore a red, Grecian-style dress and shoulder cloak with a short xiphos strapped to her hip. Behind her stood a young Greek serving girl and a pair of guardswomen who had ex-gladiatrix written all over them. One of the guardswomen was clearly Nubian while the other was a native Iberian, likely Lusitanian, if Mako was guessing. Both were stout and muscular, wearing _linothorax_ armor with falcata- or kopis-style swords.

Mako suspected either guardswoman could clobber the shit out of an above-average legionary.

“If ‘Korra’ is the Thracian Amazon, then yeah, that’s us,” Mako told the woman, adding a bit of swagger to his posture. Damn she was hot. “I’m Mako, and this is my brother, Bolin.”

“ _Ave_ ,” Bolin greeted.

“I want to thank the both of you for leaping to her rescue. The Thracian Amazon is my… close friend,” the woman explained. “When I realized that the ambush wasn’t part of the show, I was on the verge of sending my guardswomen in to assist her.” She gestured to the serving girl, who stepped forward to hand Mako and Bolin each a bag of copper and silver coins. “Please accept this as a token of my thanks.”

“Gosh, thanks,” Bolin said, looking down at the bag. “But all we really did was create a distraction.”

“It was still enough to help her win the fight,” the woman assured them.

“Do you know if she’s alright?” Mako asked, looking up from his coins.

“I don’t,” the woman answered, grimacing a bit in frustration. “The guards wouldn’t let me in to see her, but her trainer assured me that the medics are doing everything they can for her. Hopefully that will be enough. Regardless, they wouldn’t have had that chance to if you hadn’t intervened.”

“Well, protecting Rome’s loyal citizens is what we do,” Bolin declared, puffing his chest out.

Mako frowned at his coins again. This was at least five-months’ pay. “We appreciate your praise,” he assured her, “but I’m not sure we can accept this kind of money, Miss…?”

“Asami Sato,” she introduced herself. “And please accept it—it’s the least I could do. I manage my father’s merchant holdings from Massilia to Seguntum. Money isn’t really an issue for me,” she assured them.

“Okay, uh, thanks,” he said finally.

“No, thank _you_ ,” she corrected, smiling warmly. She nodded politely to them, then turned to leave.

“So, I guess we can _bribe_ Varo to not flog us,” Bolin shrugged to Mako, hefting his coin pouch.


	3. Star Wars AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Third idea: Star Wars Jedi AU. Features Tenzin as a Jedi Master who escaped Palpatine's Order 66 with the youngling Korra and later married and raised Force-sensitive children (still deciding which ones). Korra, Asami, Mako, Bolin, Opal, and Kya are all members of the Rebellion. Features Kuvira as an Imperial commander and Bumi as a Rebel Alliance commander. Also has some major character deaths.
> 
> I went with a Galactic Civil War era AU because it's the era of Star Wars canon that I'm most familiar with. I was a huge Star Wars nerd back in the '90s and grew up with the Special Edition films, Timothy Zahn's novels, and Lucas Arts's computer games. I know the lore reasonably well, as well as stuff like hardware specifications and the political climate. Chapter one opens with a major character death, fair warning! (There is no death, there is only the Force...)

It was nighttime and the Imperials had finally left.

Jinora felt tears down both cheeks as she ran just ahead of Suyin, Lin, and Wing and Wei, all of them carrying glow-rods to light their way through the wreckage. Though her father and Korra and thirty-odd security volunteers had bought enough time to evacuate the citizens, the shining city of Zaofu was no more. The TIE Bombers and AT-ATs had reduced the great metal city into so much twisted rubble, all for harboring a pair of Jedi.

They paused as they came across wreckage from a scout-walker, its leg sliced off with a lightsaber. Calling on the Force, Jinora stretched her consciousness once again, trying to feel for her father or Korra. Following the evacuation, Jinora and Ikki both felt a disturbance in the Force—a horrible emptiness where their father, Jedi Master Tenzin, should be. They’d all steeled themselves for the possibility that their dad was dead.

Except that now Jinora could feel his presence again, kind of. She could feel him again, but different. He felt… nearby, but far away at the same time.

Korra, she could barely feel at all.

“Looks like this was as deep as the Imperials got into the city,” Lin commented as they caught their breaths. She pointed to a pair of dead Stormtroopers next to the bombed-out remains of what was once Meelo’s favorite restaurant. Both troopers had lightsaber slashes through their armor.

“I’m so sorry, Jinora,” Su whispered, placing a hand on her young friend’s shoulder. “There were just so many Imperials. And then they bombed everything, just to make sure. I don’t see how your father or Korra could have made it.”

“But I can still feel them, I’m sure of it,” Jinora frowned, trying to push her emotions aside to focus. “Korra feels very weak—and fading. Dad feels _different_ , somehow.”

“Then we’ll have to keep looking, and quickly,” Su urged, stepping over the walker’s severed leg.

They passed the bodies of dozens of Stormtroopers and regular army soldiers, as well as a few of Su’s security volunteers, scattered about the blown-out streets and buildings.

“Must have been some fight,” Wei commented, looking around. “I kinda wish I could have been here to see it.”

“Is that your dad’s robes?” Wing asked suddenly, shining his glowrod at the base of a collapsed building.

“Dad, no!” Jinora shouted, running to the twisted rubble. Amid the metal and duracrete debris lay the tattered and slightly burnt remains of Master Tenzin’s trademark orange-and-yellow robes. “No,” she sobbed again and again, clutching part of an orange sleeve. “No, no, no, no, no!”

Jinora felt Su’s arms around her and Lin’s hand on her shoulder. _Dammit_ , why did the Imperials have to do this? Why couldn’t they just leave her family alone?

“Su,” Bataar’s voice came in over the comlink. “Su, we’ve been hailed by a shuttle of some kind. It’s Mako. He’s asking for you. I’ll patch you through if you want.”

“I’ll talk to him,” Su answered. “Mako, it’s Su,” she hailed back a moment later. “I’m not complaining, but I’d love to know what you and the Alliance are even doing out here.”

“Our spies picked up on the Imperials’ mission against Zaofu, but not in time to come to your defense,” he explained. “Commander Bumi has a couple transports and some Y-Wings standing by to get your people out of there. They just need my signal.”

“We managed to evacuate the citizens into the sensor-shielded bunkers beneath the mines, but the entire city is destroyed,” Su explained.

“Why do you even _have_ bunkers hidden in the mines?” Mako asked. “Never mind, it’s not important. So the Imperials just blew the city up and left? Why?”

“Probably because they got what they came for,” Lin commented, checking one of Zaofu’s security officers who’d fallen nearby.

“So, what _did_ they come for?” Bolin’s voice came over the com this time.

“Jedi,” Su sighed, still rubbing Jinora’s shoulder. “I was harboring a Jedi master and his Padawan. They… gave their lives to hold the Empire off until my people escaped.”

“I’m sorry,” Mako said after a moment. “I’ve signaled the transports to head this way, but they’re not really med-equipped. If you’ve got any wounded, we’ve got a med droid on the shuttle, and we can ferry them back to one of our medical frigates while the transports evac your people.”

“Shouldn’t be any wounded, but thanks for the offer,” Su assured him. “And, Mako… thanks for coming out for us.”

“You’re welcome. See you shortly.”

“I found Tenzin’s lightsaber,” Wei spoke up. Su stood and Jinora finally looked up as he approached, handing the hilt to his mother.

Su looked the weapon over, igniting it with a _snap-hiss_. The yellow blade illuminated the darkened ruins for a moment before Su extinguished it. “Here, I’m sure your father would want you to have this,” she said, handing the hilt to Jinora.

Jinora felt a strange tingle as she reached for the weapon. “ _Jinora!_ ” her father’s voice broke through as she took the saber.

“Dad!” she looked up. The voice sounded close by, but as if it were echoing from somewhere far away.

“ _Jinora, quickly!_ ” Tenzin urged again. She leapt to her feet, running in the direction of his voice. She barely heard Su’s voice behind her. “ _Find Korra!_ ”

Her legs carried her deeper into the carnage, into the northwest end of the city where the fighting had been fiercest. She passed more dead Imperials, another fallen AT-ST, two wrecked speeder-bikes, and even the wreckage of a TIE Fighter.

“ _Under there, Jinora, hurry!_ ” her father commanded. “ _She’s under the north wall of that shield generator_.”

Catching her breath, Jinora frowned at the collapsed slab of metal and duracrete. “You want me to lift _that_?” she asked. She’d lifted rocks, boxes, her siblings, and odd bits of furniture, but nothing even a tenth the size of that durasteel wall.

“ _You’re the only one who_ can _, Jinora!_ ” her father’s voice insisted. “ _She doesn’t have much time!_ ”

Stretching out her hand and stretching out with the Force, Jinora focused her thoughts on moving the broken metal slab. She may have lost her father, but damned if she was going to lose Korra too.

At first she focused on lifting the whole slab. She got it to move somewhat, but she could tell she wasn’t strong enough yet to move the whole thing. Opening her eyes and scowling, Jinora tilted her head to analyze the debris. She realized suddenly that if she lifted just one side, she might be able to tilt the slab up enough for someone to fetch Korra out from under.

“Are you even listening? What’s going on?” Lin demanded from right next to her.

Jinora jumped, startled. She’d been so focused she hadn’t even noticed the others had caught up to her. “Sorry, but I need to lift that slab,” she explained. “Dad says Korra’s trapped under there, and I need to get her out! I’ll lift the wall while Wing and Wei fetch her out from under.”

Closing her eyes and stretching her hand out again, Jinora focused on one side of the rubble. Like her father had taught her, she visualized one side of it lifting up. Her focus wavered a bit as the weight of the massive slab resisted. Taking a deep breath and focusing again, she heard the rubble shift as she lifted one side of the broken wall.

“I see Korra!” Wing shouted. “She, uh, doesn’t look so good…”

“Get her, quickly but carefully,” Su ordered.

Eyes closed and focusing on holding the slab up, Jinora heard Wei and Wing scramble underneath the levitating wreckage. Moments later she heard them picking their way back out.

“They’ve got her,” Su said calmly. “You can let it down now.”

Exhaling, Jinora opened her eyes and let the slab slam back into place. She felt more tears as Wei lay Korra’s broken body on the duracrete. Wing crouched nearby holding Korra’s saberstaff. Jinora wept as she knelt beside the young woman who’d been like her older sister for as long as she could recall.

“I’d ask ‘how is she even alive?’ but I’ve asked that about her before,” Lin admitted, frowning as she knelt beside Korra.

Jinora shook her head, just as baffled. Korra’s left arm and leg were completely crushed and probably couldn’t be saved. She had a blaster burn on her left side and several other burns that Jinora suspected were caused by flame troopers. Jinora didn’t even want to _think_ about how many bones were broken.

“Mako, it’s Su again,” Su requested over the comlink. “I was wrong, we’re going to need med-evac, right away. We found the Padawan; she’s alive but barely. Meet us near the northwest shield-generator.”

“On our way, Su,” Mako came back. “Asami will get us there as quick as she can.”

“Hurry,” Su urged. “I don’t know how much longer she’ll last.”

The crazy part for Jinora was that Korra didn’t look in pain. After her battle with that maniac Zaheer, Korra had been badly broken, her face contorted in incredible pain. But right now she looked calm, as if she’d made peace with the belief that she was going to die and that she was sacrificing herself to save others.

Jinora fervently hoped that belief would prove false.

The roar of ion engines shook Jinora from her worries. An assault shuttle swooped by moments later, then circled around to land in an open boulevard a few dozen meters away. Once settled, the ramp lowered and Bolin and Mako charged out with a stretcher, rushing toward Jinora and the others. A 2-1B droid shuffled in their wake, carrying medical supplies.

“Alright, let’s see what—” Mako broke off as he arrived with the stretcher. “Wait… that’s–that’s Korra! Korra was the Padawan?”

“Whoa, Korra’s a Jedi?” Bolin murmured as they knelt to set the stretcher down. “I mean, I always knew Korra was high-level super awesome, but I didn’t know she was Jedi-level super awesome.”

“Wow, this looks bad,” Mako said quietly, frowning deeper as his glance paused over the broken remains of Korra’s left arm. “Two-One, go ahead and start examining her. Tell us what we need to do to get her stabilized and prepped for transport.”

“So, Korra did all this?” Bolin asked, gesturing to the scattered Stormtrooper bodies as the medic droid examined Korra’s battered form.

“Korra and Tenzin and a few dozen of my guards who volunteered to help hold the Imperials off,” Su explained. “As best we can tell, Korra was the only survivor.”

“Wait… huh, does that mean Tenzin was her Jedi master then?” Bolin asked. “That actually makes a weird kind of sense, somehow.” He grimaced, then turned to give Jinora a hug. “I’m really, _really_ sorry about your dad,” he murmured.

“It’s alright,” Jinora answered calmly, despite a few tears falling. “I know he’ll always be with me, at least in spirit.” She could almost feel him standing behind her as she clutched his lightsaber.  

“Yes! Good way to look at it,” Bolin encouraged her, though she could tell he’d completely missed her meaning.

“Hey guys, I hate to rush you, but we need to get moving,” a new voice said from the shuttle. Jinora turned to see an elegant, dark-haired young woman in a headset and orange flight suit at the top of the ramp. “Commander Bumi says his Y-Wings picked up an Imperial dreadnought inbound to the capital,” she explained. “He’s going to take the transports to ground to keep from being spotted. If we’re going to keep from having to do the same we’ll need to be airborne within the next five to ten minutes.”

“Right, I think she’s secure,” Mako reported. “Two-One will have to work on keeping her stabilized for the flight. Want to give me a hand, Bo?”

Jinora stepped aside as they stood to carefully lift Korra’s stretcher. She looked down at her father’s saber still in her hand. She closed her eyes and exhaled. It wouldn’t be easy, but she knew what she had to do. Her father didn’t say anything, but she knew this was something he equally did and didn’t want. She turned and stepped over to Suyin.

“I’m going with them,” Jinora declared quietly. “I need to be there for Korra, and I feel like that’s where my destiny is taking me—where the Force is leading me.”

She’d been expecting some kind of ‘you’re too young’ speech but was pleasantly surprised when Su just nodded.

“I’ll say goodbye to your mom, your brothers, Ikki, Kai, and everyone else for you,” Su promised. She turned and took Korra’s saberstaff from Wing, handing it to Jinora. Jinora clutched both sabers to her chest and nodded gratefully.

“Ikki’s response will probably be ‘ _no fair_ , how come Jinora gets to run away to join the Rebel Alliance and I have to stay here?’” Jinora laughed.

“Stay safe,” Su smiled, bending down to hug her.

“Before I forget,” Bolin barged in, rushing up to Su. “Opal says ‘hello’ and wishes she could be here. Or, at least, I’m pretty sure she would, except that she’s on a procurement mission for the Alliance, so she probably doesn’t even know about all this yet, but I’m sure she’d want me to say ‘hello’ for her, and—”

“I know what you meant, big guy,” Su assured him, standing up to hug him too. “Keep taking care of my little girl for me, alright?”

“Bo! Asami says we’ve got to get moving,” Mako hollered from the ship.

“Right!” he answered, releasing Su and turning to rush back to the shuttle. Jinora followed right behind him.

“Wait, where do you think you’re going?” Mako scowled as Jinora dashed up the ramp. “You can’t just—gah!” he cut off with a _snap-hiss_ as she ignited her father’s lightsaber.

“I’m going with Korra, so strap in so we can take off,” she ordered, dropping into a fighting stance. She could almost feel her father chuckle behind her. “I realize they’ve gotten really good at using bacta to reattach severed arms, but I’m betting it still hurts when they get cut off,” she continued, channeling Korra’s stubbornness.

“Alright, jeeze,” Mako backed off. “You didn’t have to threaten me.”

“It’s faster than arguing,” Jinora told him, shutting down the saber as the ramp started to close. She strode past him into the shuttle’s twenty-four-passenger hold. Bolin just grinned as he buckled himself into a seat near Korra’s cot. The 2-1B droid stood over Korra’s motionless form, a breathing mask over her face and her broken body secured for transport.

“I like this little girl already,” the pilot’s voice floated down from the cockpit.

“You could have killed me with that,” Mako scowled as he strapped in.

“No, I couldn’t have,” Jinora shook her head as she fastened her restraints. “I’m almost as good as dad with a saber, and I’m _at least_ as strong with the Force as him.”

“She’s got you there, Bro,” Bolin snickered.

“She’s adorable,” their pilot agreed as Jinora felt the shuttle lift off. “Can I adopt her?”

Mako just rubbed his eyes.

“Oh, by the way, that’s Asami, one of the Alliance’s top pilots,” Bolin said, pointing in the general direction of the cockpit. “Asami,” he added, picking up his voice, “this is Jinora, Master Tenzin’s daughter, both of whom are apparently Jedi.”

“Nice to meet you,” Asami’s voice came back. “I’ll introduce myself in person once we’re in hyperspace.”

They were quiet a long moment, the only sound the hum from the sub-light drive.

“So the yellow saber is your dad’s then?” Bolin asked, pointing to the lightsabers on Jinora’s lap.

“Mm-hmm,” Jinora nodded.

“How come Korra’s hilt is so much longer?” he asked next.

“It’s a saberstaff,” she explained, lifting the weapon. “It has two blades.” She held the saber in front of herself and ignited it to demonstrate. Bolin’s eyes got huge as dual blue blades hummed to life.

“That is the coolest thing I’ve ever heard of!” Bolin gushed, leaning forward. “I had no idea something like that even existed.”

“Sounds like a good way to cut yourself in half, to me,” Mako scowled as Jinora extinguished the blades.

“It can be,” Jinora agreed. “That’s why their wielders have to be ridiculously skilled to use them effectively. Thankfully, this is Korra we’re talking about,” she added. “She’s kind of a powerhouse at everything she does; her Force manipulation and lightsaber skills are no exception. When she gets going, she’s practically a one-woman army.”

“I gathered that from the number of dead Imps in the vicinity,” Mako admitted.

Jinora nodded as she yawned. Somehow she could almost feel her father’s arms around her. She closed her eyes and lay her head against the nerf-hide seat, willing sleep to take her. It had been a long day.


	4. Thanks for Voting!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much to everyone who voted in the Korra AUs poll! The Roman AU won pretty handily, and I've already posted the [first chapter here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16989447/chapters/39935562)! My deepest apologies to everyone who had their hearts set on the Runaway or Star Wars AUs. As a consolation prize, I'm going to post the second chapters of the other AUs here as I finish them. Here's chapter 2 of the Star Wars AU. Thanks so much for reading, folks! As always, feedback is most welcome!

Kuvira didn’t bother to hide her contempt for the man as she approached Governor Raiko on the pillared veranda outside his palace. The nearsighted moron grinned smugly as if truly believed he’d accomplished something worthwhile today. But then, this was the same governor who changed the name of his capitol from Republic City to Imperial City after joining the Empire.

“Ah, Commander Kuvira,” the idiot greeted her, stepping out from his cluster of late-night hangers-on. “Welcome back to Imperial City. Though I’m sorry your trip turned out to be a waste. As I’m sure you’ve learned by now, you’ve arrived too late to—”

“Forestall your incompetence?” she cut him off, clasping her hands at the small of her back and glaring impassively. The six Stormtroopers around her kept their blasters ready. “Yes, I am also sorry my trip was a waste. Had I known you were going to interfere, I might have arrived in time to prevent the escape of an entire city of traitors; prevent the destruction of five all-terrain scout transports, four speeder bikes, one Chariot Light Assault Vehicle, and a TIE fighter; _and_ save the lives of twenty-eight Stormtroopers, fourteen vehicle crewmembers, eight scouts, and forty-three regular army soldiers. None of these deaths do I take lightly, nor the destruction of Imperial equipment, nor the escape of traitors to the Empire.” She maintained her steely expression in part to hide her satisfaction over Raiko’s alarmed grimace.

“You say all of this as though my soldiers failed to complete their primary objective,” Raiko argued, crossing his arms. “I assure you, Commander, that both of the Jedi fugitives were exterminated, as were any who attempted to protect them. Adopting an accusatory tone to deflect the fact that I did your job for you seems like such a _childish_ tactic for an Imperial Commander.”

“If you _had_ , in fact, done my job for me, I might agree,” Kuvira said, her expression not changing. “For some reason, however, you assumed that my primary objective was my _only_ objective. I also had orders to punish the traitors of Zaofu and investigate the city for possible ties to the Rebellion. Thanks to your incompetence, neither of these objectives are attainable.”

“And how was _I_ supposed to know—” Raiko started to object.

“You _weren’t_ supposed to know,” Kuvira cut him off again, letting a few frosty drops of cold-blooded rage seep through her filter. “That’s the whole point. Your _only_ instructions were to stay out of my way. In effort to ‘do my job for me,’ you sent in a hastily-prepared force consisting mostly of inexperienced garrison troops against two powerful Jedi and three dozen well-equipped, well-trained security forces. Your soldiers failed to conceal their mobilization, allowing the defenders time to prepare their resistance. You attacked the city from one direction only, allowing plenty of avenues for the citizens to escape and allowing the defenders to better coordinate their resistance. Your soldiers were only successful because of numerical advantage and that the Jedi seemed content to sacrifice themselves nobly to save others. _And_ you failed to follow the standard procedure of leaving sensors and spotters to monitor the city in case any of the Jedi’s allies return. Because of this, we have no idea the identity of the shuttle our sentry ships saw leaving the battle site a half-hour ago, nor what they might have found at the site.”

Raiko paled with every sentence. “I apologize, Commander. I won’t make the same mistakes again.”

Kuvira tilted her head, regarding him coolly but letting her expression soften somewhat. “On that, at least, we can agree,” she acknowledged. With that, she drew her sidearm and shot him through the chest.

Raiko’s body pitched backward and collapsed to the durasteel floor, dead and no longer a problem. The various bootlickers and hangers-on present shrieked and huddled together as her Stormtroopers raised their blasters.

Kuvira surveyed the cluster of useless filth. “Spare that one,” she ordered, pointing to an older, grey-haired functionary who looked reasonably competent.

She looked on, pitiless, as her guards gunned down the remainder of Raiko’s entourage. The nobles or whoever they were screamed as blaster bolts tore into heads and chests. Several attempted to flee, only to die running and terrified.

“You,” she ordered the skinny, grey-haired man who she’d spared. The man cowered behind a column next to the wall. “My flagship leaves in eighteen standard hours. You have until then to compile a list of six-to-ten effective candidates for replacement governor, as well as full information on each. At that point I’ll make a decision about your continued survival.”

“Y–yes, Commander Kuvira,” the man whimpered in a squeaky voice.

Kuvira turned and strode away without acknowledging.

* * *

* * *

“What do you have for me, June?” Kuvira asked as she neared the blasted-out remains of Zaofu’s northwest shield generator. “Find anything interesting?”

“Quite a bit,” June admitted, gesturing her to follow. Scouts and scanning crews sifted about the rubble as the morning sun started its ascent.

An ex-bounty hunter, June wore custom, matte-black scout/commando armor with built-in com/scanning gear and a HUD eyepiece over her right eye. For weapons, she carried a sniper-rifle, two holdout pistols, and a telescoping electrostaff. All of it was custom equipment, and she knew how to use it supremely well.

NY-L4, June’s innocuous-looking spherical probedroid, floated by not far off, scanning the wreckage. Equipped with multiple optics and sensor arrays, the droid also housed tranq darts, tasers, a stun-blaster, and assorted other nonlethal apprehension weapons.

Though an excellent huntress, June had run afoul of one of the local Hutt crime bosses a few years back. Seizing the opportunity, Kuvira offered her Imperial protection and high-end consultant wages in exchange for work as a scout, tracker, and commando. It so far had been a mutually beneficial arrangement.

“As I mentioned in my initial flyby report, the defenders managed to confine the battle to the city’s northwest quadrant,” June continued, gesturing to the nearby cityscape. “Of the two Jedi, we’re pretty sure the Master fell first, about four streets over,” she explained, pointing to the east-by-southeast. “Big tangle of a scrum, with a downed walker in the middle of it. The apprentice, or whatever you call her, apparently went rancor-shit when her master fell, and actually _pushed back_ Raiko’s taskforce. She rallied the defenders and made a hell of a mess, including throwing a broken-off communications spire through a TIE Fighter’s cockpit.” She gestured to a crumpled solar panel visible further down the road.

“So she was fairly strong with this ‘Force’ of theirs?” Kuvira asked, impressed with the Padawan’s prowess. “Though those Red Lotus goons we interrogated implied as much.”

“I’m afraid ‘was’ might be the wrong verb tense, boss,” June shook her head, pointing to where a lifting droid held up a section of the shield generator’s wall. “Remember that gloat-laden holo-footage Raiko sent us, where his grenadiers managed to blast a wall over on the Padawan? There’s the wall, but there’s no Padawan under it.”

“And I suppose it’s too much to hope that someone simply moved the body, given that none of the other bodies have been moved, or even looted,” Kuvira grimaced, rubbing the bridge of her nose between her thumb and finger.

“Oh, no, it gets even better,” June snorted, crouching near where the lifting droid held up the broken wall. “We’ve got two sets of tracks leading to and from where the Padawan fell—that’s two people ducking, not crawling, under the rubble to retrieve the body. But at the same time, it took a heavy-lifting droid for us to pick up the wall. And yet, there’re no droid tracks where someone might have used one to lift the broken wall.”

“So unless our Jedi was somehow in good enough shape to pick a wall up off herself, but not good enough to walk out under her own power, she not only had help, she had Force-sensitive help,” Kuvira said, feeling her scowl deepen. “And thanks to Raiko’s ineptitude, we’ve no idea who rescued her or where she’s gone now. I’m suddenly wishing I’d shot him in the gut first instead of the chest.”

“Nice,” June smirked. “I kinda wish I’d been there to see that.”

“What did you find out about the escaped citizens?” Kuvira asked as they stood.

“They fled into the mines. I sent a couple probe droids down after them, but the jerks collapsed the tunnels behind them—which was to be expected.”

“I don’t suppose we have any sensor equipment that will read deep enough?” Kuvira asked.

“Not on hand, no,” June shook her head. “There’re probably sensor arrays that we can ‘borrow’ from one of the local companies, but that could take as much as a day to get here. And I can’t say I’m in the mood to lead a force into a maze of tunnels being defended by desperate colonists protecting their families, thanks.”

“And that’s assuming they’re even still around,” Kuvira agreed. “I’m more interested in where they might come out. If they collapsed the tunnels behind them, there will be other ways out. Take your team and scout out any possible alternate exits in the surrounding mountains and canyons. Don’t engage, but follow them as best you can, eavesdrop on their communications, see if you can find out where they’re going. Even if they don’t know where the Padawan went, maybe we can use them as bait to catch her, or something.”

June crossed her arms and eyed Kuvira for a long moment. “I think that’s the first time I’ve heard you say ‘or something,’ boss,” she admitted.

Kuvira grimaced and rubbed the bridge of her nose again. “I’m sorry,” she muttered. “Thanks to Raiko, this whole operation is so shot to hell that I’m scrambling to salvage _something_ positive out of it.”

“I’ll keep in touch, don’t worry,” June assured her.

Kuvira glanced at her chrono. “I can keep the _Dark Templar_ here another sixteen hours, so call me if you need backup. After that you and your team are on your own.”

“Just how I like it,” June smirked.

* * *

* * *

Korra felt the rock strike her hand again, breaking bones and sending the lightsaber flying from her grip. Zaheer hurled another barrage of rocks and debris into her chest and face faster than her poisoned legs could dodge, throwing her backward to the rocky ground. Unable to focus to get her saber back, she watched helplessly yet again as Zaheer pulled her weapon to himself and sliced it in half with his dual-saber.

The lightsaber had belonged to Tenzin’s uncle, a great Jedi Master named Sokka. Losing the weapon still made Korra ache inside when she thought of it.

The dream continued, as it always did, with Korra feeling Zaheer slam her against yet another boulder while the poison continued to ravage her body. Ribs and a shoulder fractured at the impact, and Korra could feel the ache once again as her body reacted to the memory.

As before, she felt the terror and helplessness as Zaheer used the Force to lift her broken body by the neck, holding her several feet off the ground. Again, she felt the iron grip of those unseen fingers, crushing the life from her throat. She remembered preparing for the end to come.

But a new presence intervened—a presence darker than Zaheer and all of his Red Lotus combined.

Horrifying mechanical breathing filled the darkened canyon, and the sound of another lightsaber ignited from somewhere behind Korra, adding a red glow to the blue from Zaheer’s saber. She saw Zaheer’s face turn pale as he dropped her to the dirt in a heap. Barely conscious, Korra watched again as her attacker backed away in panic. The last thing she recalled before blacking out was a massive, black presence striding past her as Zaheer continued to back away.

Whether in this nightmare from her past or in visions of possible futures, that black presence now haunted her dreams almost nightly. Korra felt her breathing calm as the darkness subsided. Alerted to the presence of the Red Lotus and its anarchist Dark Jedi—Zaheer, Ming Hua, Ghazan, and P’Li—Darth Vader and the 501st Legion arrived to deal with the threat.

According to Suyin, none of the Red Lotus on planet survived Vader’s visit.

How Korra was alive, no one knew. Lin and Jinora found her and got her to safety while the Imperials were busy wiping out the Lotus. Days later, some of Su’s scouts discovered Zaheer’s saberstaff while investigating the battle site. They gave it to Su, who gave it to Tenzin, who gave it to Korra as a replacement for the saber she’d lost.

But three years after her defeat, it was that dark shadow, not Zaheer, that continued to haunt Korra’s nightmares. Though the Red Lotus had poisoned, broken, tortured, and brutalized her, Zaheer was somehow less terrifying than the dark presence that she’d only seen for a moment before passing out.

Korra’s mouth felt dry as she began to wake up. She found herself baffled at the fact that she was waking up at all. Her last memories were of battling the Empire. She’d been singed by a Flametrooper and took at least one clip from a blaster bolt, but continued to fight on. She’d resigned herself to dying at the Imperials’ hands to defend those she cared about, rather than risk meeting Vader again.

And now she was waking up.

Korra opened her eyes, then gasped and closed them again against the light. Why did people insist on keeping her in bright rooms every time she awoke from unconsciousness?

“Korra?” a familiar and welcome voice asked to her right.

“Hey, Jinora,” she rasped, opening her eyes slowly this time and trying to focus on her young friend.

She felt Jinora take her right hand. Her left hand and arm felt… wrong somehow… heavy…

“I am really, really glad you’re alive,” Jinora murmured, clutching Korra’s hand. “We weren’t sure you’d make it.”

“I was pretty sure I _wouldn’t_ ,” Korra admitted, her eyes finally focusing. She could see the tears in Jinora’s eyes as she pressed her cheek against Korra’s hand.

“I don’t think I could have handled losing you _and_ Dad in the same day,” Jinora said, squeezing Korra’s hand again before laying it back on the bed.

“I am _so_ sorry about—” she cut off as she started to reach her left hand across to comfort Jinora. Her left hand that was now made from metal and wires and tiny hydraulics…

In her peripheral vision she noticed Jinora bite her lower lip apprehensively, but Korra’s attention was focused on the metal appendage attached to her left shoulder.

“ _Huh_ ,” was all she said, flexing the cybernetic digits. “So _that’s_ why my arm felt weird.”

“Yeah, they had to replace your left arm, and Aunt Kya says they’ll replace your left leg once the prosthetics arrive tomorrow,” Jinora explained.

“Neat!” Korra laughed, moving the arm back and forth. “Who’s ‘Aunt Kya’?” she asked, watching the servos move in her elbow.

“That would be me,” a new voice said from the door. Korra looked up to see a handsome, middle-aged woman with greying hair standing in the doorway. She wore blue and white medic’s robes and a rank insignia that Korra couldn’t identify. “Welcome to the Alliance medical transport _Savior_ , Jedi Korra,” she continued, stepping into the room and sitting on the bed across from Korra’s. “How’s the arm working out so far? We’ve got ways to cover it if you’d prefer. Some of them almost look as convincing as the original skin.”

“It’s great,” Korra smiled as she repeatedly picked up and dropped the edge of her blanket. “Can we cover it in plastoid armor? Maybe even paint some old pieces of Stormtrooper armor dark blue with a light blue stripe up the center and attach them to the prosthetics.”

“I’ll see what we can do,” Kya promised, chuckling. “We’ll get the leg attached as soon as it arrives, then give you a couple weeks to recover and learn how to use and maintain the cybernetics.”

“Sounds perfect,” Korra assured her. “So, _Aunt_ Kya, huh?” she inquired next, resting her chin on her metal palm, just for the novelty of being able to do so.

“Yeah, it turns out Jinora’s dad is my long-lost brother, Tenzin,” Kya laughed, leaning back. “I was about four or five years old when the Jedi Temple took him away for training, like they did my Mom’s brother, Sokka, when he was a kid. Uncle Sokka I actually met a few times, but my little brother I never saw again.”

“Aunt Kya and I got to comparing notes while you were recovering and figured out that we’re related,” Jinora added, finally smiling. “Her older brother, Bumi, actually led the transports that came to evacuate Su’s people after the battle a week ago. Weird coincidence, huh?”

“You know what your dad would say about coincidences,” Korra chided, smirking. “But, yeah, the Force works in weird ways, sometimes. More than one Jedi philosopher has theorized that it even has a sense of irony.”

“That makes a weird kind of sense,” Jinora agreed. “I remember Dad talking about that.”

“Anyway, I figured you were hungry, so I’ve got food coming up from the galley already,” Kya informed her. “Other than that, it’s probably best if you rest up for now.”

“I doubt I can go very far,” Korra laughed it off.

“I’ve got other wounded to check up on, and we had to evacuate a listening post a few hours ago, so I’m expecting even more here really soon,” Kya apologized, standing. “But I’ll try to find time to check back on you later.”

“Sounds good, and thanks,” Korra assured her.

Kya winked and left.

* * *

* * *

Korra was sipping tea and working her way around these dry Alliance rations when a familiar boisterous voice sounded from the doorway.

“Korra!” Bolin laughed, rushing in to hug her. “You’re okay! Oops, right, mind the arm, sorry…” he trailed off, eyeing her new arm.

“I’m glad to see you’re alright,” Opal added, entering just behind Bolin. “You looked really bad when they brought you in.”

“I’ve had worse,” Korra assured them as Opal leaned over to hug her.

“Yeah, sure you have,” Mako chuckled from the doorway. Behind him followed an attractive young woman with long, wavy dark hair. The woman wore a baggy, orange flight uniform, but somehow managed to look shapely and elegant in it.

Mako and Bolin both wore drab-grey Alliance infantry uniforms, while Opal wore a charcoal infiltrator jumpsuit with clips at the shoulders and waist to attach light combat armor. Hugging Mako in turn, Korra was fairly impressed with how professional and military her friends looked.

“No, actually, she’s had worse injuries,” Jinora confirmed for Korra. “Not by much, but still probably worse.”

“Jeeze, when was that?” Bolin asked. “Oh, this is Asami, by the way,” he added, introducing the pilot.

The elegant woman with the wonderful light-green eyes smiled graciously and extended a gloved hand. “Lovely to meet you,” Asami assured her. “I’ve never met a Jedi before; it’s a pleasure to finally meet one.”

“The pleasure is all mine,” Korra smiled, raising Asami’s hand to smooch a gloved knuckle. Asami looked surprised but not unflattered by the gesture.

“But to answer your question, Bolin,” Korra went on, releasing Asami’s hand. “Did you hear anything about that Red Lotus group that infiltrated Imperial City back home three years ago?”

“Um, yeah, some kind of anarchist group, right?” Bolin answered, searching his memory.

“And several of the higher-ranking members were exiled Jedi, according to some reports,” Asami added, sitting by Jinora.

“I remember hearing from Su that you got hurt during that, but she never said how bad,” Mako frowned.

Korra nodded, suppressing a grimace at the memory. “Tenzin, Lin, and I were among the first to respond. I got captured during the Lotus’s withdrawal from the city. They poisoned me before I could escape, and I ended up fighting two of their leaders. I took out Ghazan, but that maniac Zaheer broke half the bones in my body and was about to crush my neck when–when—” she cut off with a shudder, gasping and struggling to control her breathing as Vader’s shadow loomed across her memories once again.

“Maybe we should talk about something else,” Jinora suggested carefully.

Korra just nodded, closing her eyes and leaning back. She focused on clearing her mind to slow her breathing. As her breathing calmed, so did her heartbeat.

“Um, okay, so I have a different question,” Bolin offered, sitting on a nearby bed next to Opal. “So back when we were playing Shockball, back in Zaofu and Imperial City, were we technically cheating by having a Jedi on our team?”

Korra chuckled and opened one eye. “Yep,” she answered, grinning. She could almost hear Mako roll his eyes as the others laughed. Asami had a particularly pleasant laugh that Korra made a goal of trying to hear more often in the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kuvira makes such a fun Imperial officer. :D
> 
> Also, I've _always_ wanted to murder Raiko in a fan fiction.


End file.
